Trinity
Trinity is a Christian doctrine that says God is three person’s. Therefore, technically, it is incorrect to say that God is a person. God is personal, yes, but he is not “a” person. This is what serves to distinguish Christianity from other monotheistic faiths like Judaism or Islam which also agree that there is one God who is personal but they think there is only one person who is God. This also serves to distinguish Christianity from various Christian cults and sects like Mormonism (Latter Day Saints) or Jehovah’s Witnesses. Inevitably, it will be found that these sectarian groups get the doctrine of the Trinity wrong – it is almost like a thermometer that can be used to test these different groups to see whether or not they adhere to biblical Christianity. The doctrine of the Trinity is often obscured by Christians in mystery. Sometimes they will say that the doctrine of the Trinity is logically inconsistent or it is an affront to reason and something that can be held only by faith. It is a mystery. But this really does the doctrine a disservice. The doctrine of the Trinity is not even apparently logically contradictory. The doctrine of the Trinity is not the self-contradictory doctrine that three gods are somehow one God, or that three persons are somehow one person. Rather, the doctrine states that there are three persons in the one God. Another way to put it: God is tri-personal. Often Christians will offer inadequate analogies of the Trinity in order to explicate this doctrine. For example, it is sometimes told that the doctrine of the Trinity is like one man who is a son, a husband, and a father. There is one man but he is a son, he is a husband, he is a father. Unfortunately, that is not an adequate or accurate analogy for the Trinity because in that case you have only one person who is simply playing three roles or has three relationships, but there really is only one person that is there. Another analogy that is often used is that water can be liquid, steam, or ice. Yet it is all H2O. This is perhaps a better analogy because at least here there is one substance – one essence (H2O) – but this could be in the form of a liquid or of steam or of ice. But again the analogy really fails because the water is only successively in those various stages. It can be first liquid, and then if it freezes it turns to ice, or if it gets boiled it turns to steam. But it is not simultaneous. It is a succession of states in the water. It is better just to avoid these sorts of analogies. They are all going to be inadequate in the end. It is better to simply say that just as a human is a being with one center of self-consciousness whom he/she calls “I”, God is a being who has three centers of self-consciousness each of which can say “I”. Each one has a first-person perspective: I am the Father. I am the Son. I am the Holy Spirit. So God is a tri-personal being. He is a being with three centers of self-consciousness in contrast to human persons who are one being with one center of self-consciousness. The doctrine of the Trinity is a systematic summary of the data of Scripture. Therefore, it does not really matter that the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. The important thing is not the word, but rather the concept or the data that this word denominates. Any word could be used to denominate this doctrine so long as the scriptural data are respected and not twisted or bruised in any way. The significant thing is not the word “Trinity.” The significant thing will be the concepts that the Trinity embodies, namely that God is a single tri-personal being. Biblical Data Although the word “Trinity” is not found in the Scriptures, that is really incidental. The doctrine of the Trinity is a systematic summary of the biblical data that indicate two things: that there is one God and that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead. If those facts are true then the doctrine of the Trinity is true. The scriptural data that support these two truths can be looked at. There is One God Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament this doctrine is taught – monotheism, there is but one God. Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” This is the fundamental confession of Judaism – the so-called shema. The first clause of that confession is the uniqueness of God – there is one LORD. 1 Kings 8:60 – this is Solomon’s benediction on the occasion of the dedication of the temple. He prays “that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.” So there is no other God than the LORD – the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:5a, 18: Category:Doctrine of God Category:Trinity